The present invention relates to a disk cartridge accommodating a disk for storing information such as an optical disk, and a tray for loading such a disk cartridge and conveying into a disk loading apparatus.
Recently, an information recording and reproducing apparatus using an optical disk has come to be used in a personal computer or the like. In the information recording and reproducing apparatus, a disk cartridge accommodating the optical disk is used, and also a disk loading apparatus for setting the cartridge at the recording and reproducing position is used.
The disk cartridge is composed of a molded resin case having a window extending from the middle to the end formed on the face side and the back side, a shutter covering the windows and movable in the lateral direction, and an optical disk put in the case.
The disk loading apparatus comprises a tray for conveying the mounted disk cartridge up to the recording and reproducing position, fixing means for fixing the disk at the recording and reproducing position, and rotating means for rotating the disk. The tray is assembled in the disk loading apparatus so as to move in the longitudinal direction. This tray move is effected usually by a loading motor. On the outer circumference of the tray, a surrounding wall is nearly in the same height as the thickness of the disk cartridge so that the disk cartridge may not slip off the tray during conveyance.
In this disk loading apparatus, first the tray is drawn out, and the disk cartridge is mounted on the tray so that the shutter may be located in the inserting direction. Next, the tray moves into the disk loading apparatus, and the disk is fixed at the recording and reproducing position. Consequently, the shutter is opened, and the disk rotates to record or reproduce.
In such conventional disk loading apparatus, when the cartridge is merely put on the tray and is not fixed on the tray, the cartridge may possibly happen to move during conveyance. In particular, when the disk loading apparatus is installed so that the disk surface may be vertical, during conveyance, the cartridge may sway in its thickness direction and the cartridge may not be fixed correctly at the specified position.
Besides, when setting the cartridge on the tray, if the cartridge is set upside down by mistake, it is directly conveyed, and correctness of the cartridge loading operation cannot be easily distinguished.